Getting close to the finishing stage

  

This stone is nearly fully articulated and, but for one nagging issue, is about ready for sanding. That issue is this: over the years, a frequent comment by folks viewing a piece in its unfinished state is, "You're going to leave those rough areas aren't you?". I usually reply, "No, I'm not. That doesn't fit my concept of a finished piece". Well, I heard it again, this time from my friend Mary, and I'm thinking that I might actually do it this time. I'm torn, and struggling with the question, "What might I accomplish by leaving some of the rough areas?". Any thoughts?

Some progress on the other side

I thought it'd be a good idea to finish the design of the other side before deciding what to do about the remaining stone around the periphery. Again, in this photo, the piece is standing on the edge that will serve as the mounting point. The wedge shape removed at the top matches up with part of a bigger one on the other side and that area will be fairly thin when finished to maximize translucency.

Day 8 - some refinement starting

Even though there are parts of this piece that are not yet in final shape, I've started to refine some of the forms  -  can't help myself! I'm finding that this Utah alabaster is a bit more difficult to work than the stone from Colorado I've been using for about a decade. It sometimes loses chunks in unexpected ways and the rasps tend to clog with material. Nonetheless, I'm still quite excited to see how the translucency of the stone will appear in bright light when it has its final surface. About 2 weeks?

Approaching a final form

The piece, as it appears in the above photo, is getting close to its final shape. Right now, I'm debating whether or not to keep the pointed projections on the side and top. I'm leaning toward getting rid of them. However, the one on the bottom is definitely staying and will serve as the mounting point. It has taken around ten hours of work to get to this stage.

Old mud

I'm 3 days into the first orange alabaster piece and have discovered something interesting. Most stones I work with have embedded impurities of one sort or another, but this is the first time I've encountered anything like this. I'm guessing this alabaster was formed about 300 million years ago, so the pocket of mud, most visible in the horizontal photo, is some really old material. It doesn't seem to hold together too well, so the clay content seems to be low. I sure would like to know what went on way back then to produce this effect. Anyway, I'll have to dig that spot out and incorporate it into my design somehow. Very unexpected!
Addendum: I didn't really take the time to think the comments above completely through. If I had,
I would have remembered that alabaster is a metamorphic stone (subject to intense heat and pressure
during its formation) and "mud" would never survive that intact. It seems likely that the material I dug out of the edge is simply some mineral content of undetermined provenance.

Spring, AND a new piece begin . . .

It was so nice on Sunday that I decided to move my carving operation outside. I started the first orange alabaster piece there and so, my indoor studio can remain clean for the autumn. After getting everything prepared outside, I spent about an hour taking the corners off the piece since it will be another in the round, Mandala series. The small piece in the foreground is collecting light in the way that I hope the sculpture will when finished.